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Woman survives after vehicle rolls down embankment in Basalt

Staff report
Basalt firefighters cut limbs Monday to get to a vehicle that rolled about 25 feet down a steep embankment.
Basalt Police Department |

A woman survived a harrowing crash Monday after she lost control of her vehicle, hopped the curb of a Basalt street and rolled about 25 feet down a steep embankment.

The woman was driving down Wilderness Road, which serves The Wilds housing complex, when the accident occurred around 2 p.m. Some construction workers on a job in The Homestead Mobile Home Park below the site heard the crash and rushed to the scene to provide aid, according to Basalt Police Officer Travis Newcomb.

He estimated the Honda Pilot rolled 2¼ times before coming to rest on its passenger side against pinyon and juniper trees. The woman wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, but she remained in the vehicle while it rolled, Newcomb said.



The construction workers and Basalt firefighters cut limbs that engulfed the vehicle. The SUV had to be secured with a winch from a fire truck before rescuers could extricate the victim, Fire Chief Scott Thompson said.

The woman’s name and age weren’t available. She was the lone occupant. She was trapped on the passenger side of the vehicle and was comforted by a police Basalt officer while firefighters prepared to remove the windshield, Newcomb said. The victim is a Basalt resident, according to authorities. She was taken to a local hospital, but her injuries weren’t considered life threatening.



Officers on the scene said it was fortunate the construction workers heard the accident because the car was impossible to see from the mobile home park because of the thick woods. It also would have been difficult to spot the vehicle from another car on the road because of the steep embankment. Two tow trucks were on the scene late Monday afternoon trying to hoist the vehicle up.

The cause of the accident was unknown Monday afternoon. The road was relatively steep but the curve at the point of the accident was slight.


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